Toilet flange

ABSTRACT

An illustrated side view of an exemplary toilet flange for safely and securely ushering flushed toilet water to a sewer piping is presented. The toilet flange is useful for preventing any rot or deterioration of any sub floor around the toilet. The toilet flange has a sub-floor, a plurality of floor joists, a toilet floor flange, a membrane, two flange bolts and a floor drain. Prior to placing a commode or toilet onto the floor drain, the toilet flange must be installed to prevent rotting, damage to the sub-floor and to prevent odor and leakage from escaping the floor drain.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to toilets. More particularly, it relates toflanges for sealing toilets.

BACKGROUND

A toilet is a piece of hardware used for the collection or disposal ofhuman urine and feces. In other words: “Toilets are sanitationfacilities at the user interface that allow the safe and convenienturination and defecation”. Toilets can be with or without flushing water(flush toilet or dry toilet). They can be set up for a sitting postureor for a squatting posture (squat toilet). Flush toilets are usuallyconnected to a sewer system in urban areas and to septic tanks in lessbuilt-up areas. Dry toilets are connected to a pit, removable container,composting chamber, or other storage and treatment device. Toilets arecommonly made of ceramic (porcelain), concrete, plastic, or wood.

In private homes, the toilet, sink, bath, or shower may be in the sameroom. Another option is to have one room for body washing (bathroom) anda separate room for the toilet and handwashing sink (toilet room).Public toilets consist of one or more toilets (and commonly urinals)which are available for use by the general public. Portable toilets orchemical toilets may be brought in for large and temporary gatherings.

A typical flush toilet is a ceramic bowl (pan) connected on the “up”side to a cistern (tank) that enables rapid filling with water, and onthe “down” side to a drain pipe that removes the effluent. When a toiletis flushed, the sewage should flow into a septic tank or into a systemconnected to a sewage treatment plant. However, in many developingcountries, this treatment step does not take place.

The water in the toilet bowl is connected to a pipe shaped like anupside-down U. One side of the U channel is arranged as a siphon tubelonger than the water in the bowl is high. The siphon tube connects tothe drain. The bottom of the drain pipe limits the height of the waterin the bowl before it flows down the drain. The water in the bowl actsas a barrier to sewer gas entering the building. Sewer gas escapesthrough a vent pipe attached to the sewer line.

The amount of water used by conventional flush toilets usually makes upa significant portion of personal daily water usage. However, modern lowflush toilet designs allow the use of much less water per flush. Dualflush toilets allow the user to select between a flush for urine orfeces, saving a significant amount of water over conventional units. Theflush handle on these toilets is pushed up for one kind of flush anddown for the other. Another design is to have two buttons, one forurination and the other for defecation. In some places, users areencouraged not to flush after urination. Flushing toilets can be plumbedto use greywater (previously used for washing dishes, laundry, andbathing) rather than potable water (drinking water). Some modern toiletspressurize the water in the tank, which initiates flushing action withless water usage.

Another variant is the pour-flush toilet.^([1]) This type of flushtoilet has no cistern but is flushed manually with a few liters of asmall bucket. The flushing can use as little as 2-3 liters (0.44-0.66imp gal; 0.53-0.79 US gal). This type of toilet is common in many Asiancountries. The toilet can be connected to one or two pits, in which caseit is called a “pour flush pit latrine” or a “twin pit pour flush to pitlatrine”. It can also be connected to a septic tank.

Flush toilets on ships are typically flushed with seawater.

A flange is used to provide an odorless connection to the sewer pipingfrom the toilet. The flanges used today are commonly movable in suchthat the connection with the sewer pipe can become unsecured and causeleakage or odors to escape. Therefore, there is a need for a device thatcan secure the flange with the sewer pipe such that any movement of theflange and/or toilet does not cause an opening to allow seepage and/orodors to escape.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is an illustrated side view of an exemplary toilet flange.

FIG. 2 is an illustrated top view of the exemplary toilet flange shownin FIG. 1.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The phrases “in one embodiment,” “in various embodiments,” “in someembodiments,” and the like are used repeatedly. Such phrases do notnecessarily refer to the same embodiment. The terms “comprising,”“having,” and “including” are synonymous, unless the context dictatesotherwise. Such terms do not generally signify a closed list.

“Above,” “adhesive,” “affixing,” “any,” “around,” “both,” “bottom,”“by,” “comprising,” “consistent,” “customized,” “enclosing,” “friction,”“in,” “labeled,” “lower,” “magnetic,” “marked,” “new,” “nominal,” “not,”“of,” “other,” “outside,” “outwardly,” “particular,” “permanently,”“preventing,” “raised,” “respectively,” “reversibly,” “round,” “square,”“substantial,” “supporting,” “surrounded,” “surrounding,” “threaded,”“to,” “top,” “using,” “wherein,” “with,” or other such descriptorsherein are used in their normal yes-or-no sense, not as terms of degree,unless context dictates otherwise.

Reference is now made in detail to the description of the embodiments asillustrated in the drawings. While embodiments are described inconnection with the drawings and related descriptions, there is nointent to limit the scope to the embodiments disclosed herein. On thecontrary, the intent is to cover all alternatives, modifications andequivalents. In alternate embodiments, additional devices, orcombinations of illustrated devices, may be added to, or combined,without limiting the scope to the embodiments disclosed herein.

Referring to FIG. 1, an illustrated side view of an exemplary toiletflange 100 for safely and securely ushering flushed toilet water to asewer piping. The toilet flange 100 is useful for preventing any rot ordeterioration of any sub floor around the toilet.

The toilet flange 100 has a sub-floor 101, a plurality of floor joists102, a toilet floor flange 103, a membrane 104, two flange bolts 105 anda floor drain 106. Prior to placing a commode or toilet onto the floordrain 106, the toilet flange 100 must be installed to prevent rotting,damage to the sub-floor 101 by water and to prevent odor and leakage ofwater from escaping the floor drain 106.

The plurality of floor joists 102 are useful in supporting the sub-floor101 and the toilet. The sub-floor 101 is securely coupled to theplurality of floor joists 102. The coupling of the sub-floor 101 to theplurality of floor joists is preferably with screws, but other couplingdevices are further contemplated such as, but not limited to, nails,glue, combination of any of the coupling devices, etc.

The sub-floor 101 is preferably three quarter (¾) inch in depth, butother depths are further contemplated including, but not limited to,seven-eighths (⅞) inches, etc. The sub-floor 101 is preferably made ofplywood material, but other materials are further contemplatedincluding, but not limited to, OSB, concrete, etc.

A hole 107 is cut into the sub-floor 101 to create access to the floordrain 106. The floor drain 106 is preferably made of a acrylonitrilebutadiene styrene material, however other materials are furthercontemplated including, but not limited to, poly-vinyl chloride (PVC),low-density poly-ethylene (LDPE), high-density poly-ethylene (HDPE),plastic, etc. The floor drain 106 is preferably three (3) inches indiameter, but other diameters are further contemplated including, butnot limited to, three and one-half (3.5) inches, four (4) inches, etc.

A connecting pipe 108 is coupled to the floor drain 106 to easilyconnect the toilet to the floor drain 106 without changing the height ofthe floor or manipulating the floor drain 106. The connecting pipe 108is preferably made of poly-vinyl chloride (PVC), but other materials arefurther contemplated including, but not limited to, low-densitypoly-ethylene (LDPE), high-density poly-ethylene (HDPE), plastic, etc.The connecting pipe 108 is coupled to the floor drain 106 preferablyusing liquid PVC cement, but other coupling compounds may be used or nocoupling compounds.

The membrane 104 is coupled to the sub-floor 101 at the hole 107. Themembrane 104 is preferably a rubber material, but other materials thatcan prevent overflow of water may be used as desired. The membrane 104is coupled to a top 109 of the sub-floor 101 and the hole 107.

The two flange bolts 105 are configured to extend through the toiletfloor flange 103. The two flange bolts 105 are coupled to a bottom ofthe toilet by bolts. Thus, the toilet is tightly coupled to the toiletfloor flange 103. The toilet floor flange 103 is coupled to the hole 107over the membrane 104. The toilet floor flange 103 is then coupled tothe bottom of the toilet when the water is expelled when flushed.

Moving now to FIG. 2, an illustrated top view of the exemplary toiletflange shown in FIG. 1 is presented.

The floor drain 106 is coupled to the toilet floor flange 103. Themembrane 104 is configured between the toilet floor flange 103 and thefloor drain 106 on the sub-floor 101.

The toilet is placed on the toilet floor flange 103 where the two flangebolts 105 extend through the toilet template 201. The toilet template201 is generally the bottom of the toilet, where nuts are screwed ontothe two flange bolts 105 to secure the toilet in place.

In the numbered clauses below, specific combinations of aspects andembodiments are articulated in a shorthand form such that (1) accordingto respective embodiments, for each instance in which a “component” orother such identifiers appear to be introduced (with “a” or “an,” e.g.)more than once in a given chain of clauses, such designations may eitheridentify the same entity or distinct entities; and (2) what might becalled “dependent” clauses below may or may not incorporate, inrespective embodiments, the features of “independent” clauses to whichthey refer or other features described above.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the foregoing specificexemplary processes and/or devices and/or technologies arerepresentative of more general processes and/or devices and/ortechnologies taught elsewhere herein, such as in the claims filedherewith and/or elsewhere in the present application.

The features described with respect to one embodiment may be applied toother embodiments or combined with or interchanged with the features ofother embodiments, as appropriate, without departing from the scope ofthe present invention.

Other embodiments of the invention will be apparent to those skilled inthe art from consideration of the specification and practice of theinvention disclosed herein. It is intended that the specification andexamples be considered as exemplary only, with a true scope and spiritof the invention being indicated by the following claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A toilet flange for preventing rot and damage tosub-flooring, the flange comprising: a drain pipe, the drain pipe forcoupling to a sewer; a toilet floor flange, the toilet floor flangecoupled to the drain pipe; Two flange bolts, the flange bolts forcoupling to a toilet; and a membrane, the membrane being between thefloor flange and the sub-floor, and wherein the membrane for protectingthe sub-flooring from water damage and rot.
 2. The flange of claim 1,wherein the membrane being rubber.
 3. The flange of claim 1, wherein theflange further comprising: a connecting pipe, the connecting pipe forextending the drain pipe to the toilet, the connecting pipe beingsecurely coupled to the drain pipe.
 4. The flange of claim 3, whereinthe connecting pipe having a diameter of three (3) inches.
 5. The flangeof claim 3, wherein the connecting pipe being coupled to the drain pipeby liquid PVC cement.
 6. The flange of claim 3, wherein the connectingpipe being made of a poly-vinyl chloride (PVC) material.
 7. The flangeof claim 1, wherein the drain pipe having a diameter being three (3)inches.
 8. The flange of claim 1, wherein the drain pipe being made of apoly-vinyl chloride (PVC) material.
 9. The flange of claim 1, whereinthe sub-floor being coupled to a plurality of floor joists.
 10. Theflange of claim 1, wherein the sub-floor being made of a plywoodmaterial.
 11. The flange of claim 1, wherein the sub-floor beingthree-fourths (¾) inches in depth.